EV Overhauls Post Falls

Frontier

To the casual observer, it appeared the East Valley football team huddled near midfield for a celebratory sing-a-long after its rousing 27-20 comeback win over visiting Post Falls.

To those close enough to hear, though, the Knights could be heard flushing the taste of a season-opening loss out of their mouths.

On the same field a week earlier, Lewiston assaulted East Valley 41-3.

“You don’t know how nice it is (to flush the sour flavor of the loss away),” said EV coach Jim Clements, who was in the middle of Friday’s huddle. “That was terrible last week. Our kids made a complete turnaround.”

The about-face needed some momentum. Junior defensive back Andrew Gillespie provided it with what Clements called the “turning point” late in the third quarter. Gillespie recovered a fumble at Post Falls’ 36.

And the comeback began immediately. The Knights’ speedy running back, Adrian Likely, took a quick pitch and squirted 36 yards untouched up the sideline as EV trimmed the Trojans’ lead to 20-14 with 4:08 remaining in the third period.

The Knights forced Post Falls to punt on the next series.

Clements inserted burly running back Rob Jones for his first action, and he carried the Knights to the game-tying drive. Jones rushed five times for 21 yards before Rusty Ruchert went the final 10.

The Knights’ defense stiffened again, forcing a change of possession.

In a game of big plays, the final one belonged to EV. Ruchert rambled 77 yards, dodging and breaking away from Trojans defensive back Cameron Christiansen and Chad Quesnell for the winning TD. EV, which completed just three passes, gained 293 yards rushing. Ruchert led with 144 on 11 attempts and Likely added 112 on 16 carries.

East Valley 27, Post Falls 20

Post Falls 0 12 8 0 - 20

East Valley 0 7 7 13 - 27

E-Crockett 9 run (Sitton kick)

P-Christiansen 97 kickoff return (pass failed)

P-Christiansen 27 pass from Fehling (run failed)

P-Christiansen 9 pass from Fehling (Chamberlain pass from Fehling)

E-Likely 36 run (Sitton kick)

E-Ruchert 10 run (kick failed)

E-Ruchert 77 run (Sitton kick)

Cheney 14, Lewiston 14

Romanus Chodorowski caught a TD pass from Pat Stiffler with 32 seconds left, then they hooked up for the two-point conversion as the Blackhawks (0-1-1) rallied to tie the visiting Bengals.

Sennet Pierce of Lewiston (2-0-1) threw seven interceptions, three to Shaun Hunley.

Lewiston 14 0 0 0 - 14

Cheney 0 6 0 8 - 14

L-McCrery 7 run (Hewitt kick)

L-McCrery 45 pass from Pierce (Hewitt kick)

C-Parker 9 pass from Stiffler (kick failed)

C-Chodorowski 2 pass from Stiffler (Chodorowski pass from Stiffler)

West Valley 38, Colville 28

Chris Hilsabeck rushed for 105 yards on eight carries as the Eagles (1-1) piled up 260 yards of total offense to defeat the visiting Indians (1-1).

Nick Brumback added 61 rushing yards as WV totaled 220 on the ground. Colville’s Ryan Bradeen passed for 61 yards and the last two touchdowns.

Colville 0 8 8 12 - 28

West Valley 19 6 6 7 - 38

W-Hilsabeck 64 run (Roberts kick)

W-Rottweiler 27 run (kick failed)

W-Brumback 21 run (run failed)

W-Brumback 7 run (kick failed)

C-Finley 10 pass from Anderson (Anderson run)

C-Bradeen 10 run (Bradeen run)

W-Collins 5 run (kick failed)

W-Groh 1 yard fumble return (Roberts kick)

C-Stroyan 9 pass from Bradeen (run failed)

C-Barker 24 pass from Bradeen (pass failed)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo